Shades of Vermilion
by Diana Fay
Summary: Red can be a beautiful color but combine that with hurt, anger and loss makes it a deadly weapon to be used. Lost Diana finds herself embracing red as she wakes in the turtles world. Yes red can be damaging but healing walks beside it hand in hand.
1. Chapter 1

So I'm taking a break from my other FanFic **When I Died** to do this. I've had this stuck in my head for some time now so I hope you like it. On a side note I will tell you that I based the main character off me so in a sense your reading about me. Later on there will be some things that people consider "Awkward" in the story line. If at any time that someones reads this and has experienced such tragic events I would like to tell you, you are not alone. If anyone needs a shoulder to cry on or just someone to talk to I'm here for them Leave a **Review** please I love feedback negative or positive. Everyone have a great read and day.

I own nobody except myself and future characters which i will not tell you about ^_^

Chapter One

If someone told me I was going to end up being thrown into another dimension, tortured for information, asked to join a gang and then saved by four giant walking, talking, smart as hell turtles, who also happen to be in TV shows, movies and comics, I would have laughed in their face and asked them what the hell they were on, because they needed to share it with me because that's some crazy shit they're on.

And yet here I was, sitting on a lumpy old couch in the sewers of New York City. A mutant turtle currently fixing my broken fingers and bandaging my wounds, while sitting right next to me another one was chattering my ear off like a squirrel.

_Whoa!_ You say as you ask _"How the hell did that happen?"_

Well, I'll tell you, and boy, are you in for it. But I warn you, it's not a pleasant story, of course that isn't to say it's all bad, but I'll let you be the judge.

It all started when I tripped. Yes you heard me, I fell. Me and my clumsy ass tripped over air and fell into another world. From the start I should have know that things were going to be different that day. The nightmare I had the night before was a big warning slap in my face that I completely ignored.

_My nightmare was filled with the__ blurs of different shades of green __and the gleam of light reflected off of polished silver metal__. __There was a sharp flash_ _of pain and a never ending scream._ Now that I think about it, the one who was screaming was me.

I woke up in pitch black, my body drenched in a cold sweat as hysteria bubbled up in my throat trying to choke me. Never in my life had I ever felt such fear and anxiety, or sweat on my body after a nightmare.

Stumbling, I rushed to the bathroom, turned on the water and splashed the cool liquid on my face. I patted my face dry with a towel, the tiny green nightlight in the wall beside the sink reflected off of the mirror and onto me, casting an odd, almost eerie glow to my skin.

Looking into the mirror I stared at the stranger in it. Looking into the mirror I stared at my own reflection, my appearance so changed I hardly recognized myself any more. Messy shoulder length dark brown hair framed my slightly chubby face, bangs that were dyed a cherry soda red were plastered to my forehead with sweat, the rest of my hair a rat's nest that gave me the appearance of Medusa's twin sister. A medium sized nose was below my brown eyes which were still wide with terror. The pale green glow of the light upon my pale skin made the scar next to my right eye stand out starkly. A white slash that started at my eyebrow and ended at the middle of my temple. Sweat gleamed across my brow and beaded along the slightly raised, paper white scar tissue. My medium built body was trembling with an icy cold that settled into my bones, which I knew no amount of blankets or sweaters would be able to get rid of.

I had been losing a lot of weight lately due to a combination of work, eating right and, yes I will admit it, working out. The one thing they never tell you when you start working out is that the first place you lose weight is your chest. Which in my case, wasn't a bad thing, goodbye back pain. And so my new 36C chest size didn't bother me one bit. Funny how things turn out.

Shaking my head and pushing away the feelings and emotions that the nightmare had evoked, I decided after a good ten minutes that it was time to get ready for work.

Walking back into my room I looked at my alarm clock with its glaring red numbers which flicked to 4:35 AM causing the alarm to buzz an annoying sound that grated on my nerves, but which always guaranteed me that I would wake up. Sighing I turned it off and went to put on my clothes. Turning the bedside lamp on I put on some wool socks with dark blue paint stained work jeans. My black Velcro Watch with a piece of pink wiring went on my right wrist followed by a simple black belt with my Swiss army knife strapped onto it. The top was a sleeveless dark emerald cotton t shirt. I slid on my Men's Caterpillar Steel Toe WP Work Boots. They were black with the bright yellow Caterpillar company logo on the side. To top this off I put on my Pickens Technical College hoodie and put my newly charged phone in my left jean pocket while in the other I put in my mp3 and neon green gummy bear ear buds. Turning off the lamp I walked to my kitchen and started to make breakfast, which consisted of Danish styled cream cheese toaster strudels and a glass of OJ along with a woman's multivitamin.

It took fifteen minutes to eat while watching some TV and another five to wash the dishes. By the time I had finished cleaning up my watch read 5:05 so I grabbed my lunch, a Subway sandwich, from the fridge to put in my work bag. My work bag which was a medium sized black cotton backpack.

At this point you're probably wondering what the hell is my job? Well, I worked for the Aurora Public Schools in Colorado as Grounds Maintenance. Fun job, hard as hell , but with great pay. I was hired on full time since I got my driver's license. Life had really started to turn around for me at this point in my life. I had my own one level house and a shiny new 2012 gem green colored Ford super duty truck.

Keys in my hand I started for the door. In a split second the hair on the back of my neck stood up on end and I felt my stomach drop down to my feet. I started feeling a little off, and then I tripped over the air in front of me.

Gravity went against me more than usual as I looked at the black hole that suddenly appeared in front of me as it pulled me in. My vision became clouded with shadows and just as I was slipping into unconsciousness I saw a flash of silver and then nothing.

I heard the slap of flesh against flesh when I regained my senses, followed by me registering the pain in my cheek and jerking at the person who had slapped my face.

A muffled "Get up." Was hissed in my ear.

I tensed as I heard the low threatening tone of it. Fear crept up my spine as it dawned on me that 1 I did not recognize the voice, and 2 it was a male's voice. Opening my eyes I winced as the bright light hit my burning eyes. From there I squinted at the blurry figures in front of me.

"Open your eyes woman," the voice boomed out to me.

I swallowed down a big lump of fear, my throat feeling like sandpaper. I shook my head whispering, "The light's too bright".

Another slap across my face and my eyes flew wide open getting the biggest surprise of my life when I saw the man in front of me.

He looked to be over six feet tall and clothed in a gray tunic with matching bottoms. The man was covered in silver metal pieces, brown leather shin guards, arm slash hand bands that had razor sharp looking curved blades coming out of the back of the arm part. The cape he wore had a metal shoulder piece that had the same design as the arms. His face was mostly covered by a helmet and mouth concealing everything under his eyes. Slits near the mouth allowed him to breathe leaving his piercing black eyes to gaze back at me. The helmet covered his ears and looked antique, and somewhat tarnished, with chain mail on the sides with a solid sharpened pointed piece on the top of his head slanting backwards. When I took this all in I could not help but blink somewhat rapidly at him.

_'What the hell was going on?_' I wondered to myself. The man's eyes stared at me, slowly raking down my figure. I frowned at this because it felt like he was checking me out or something.

"What is your name?" He asked in a deep echoing voice.

My eyebrow rose at this. _Did he honestly think I was going to just going to give my name to a total stranger in a Halloween costume?_I wondered in disbelief. The room remained silent as I glared at him.

He growled and his hand shot forward to roughly grab my chin. I went to clutch at his arm when I realized that I could not move my arms or my body. _How the hell had I not felt the straps on my arms, stomach and legs that held me to a vertical steel table?_ I squirmed and tried to jerk my head back, but his hold on my chin just tightened painfully almost to the point of my eyes starting to water.

"You will tell me your name girl and consider this the least of your pains if you choose to disobey me again." He growled the last part out in an even lower voice as if he were telling me a secret.

_Secret my ass, and since when did I all of a sudden become a little girl? _Giving one more frustrated grunt I finally decided to give him my name and not tell him anything else, no matter how much pain I might go through.

I had already experienced enough pain in my life for me to be able to become somewhat numb to the experience.

"Diana...Diana Katherine Chavez." I grumbled as I glared at him even more than before. This apparently was the right answer because he pushed my face away to slam against the steel table. I saw spots dance in front of my eyes as I clenched my teeth together in pain. _So much for that last thing being the least of my pains._ I thought to myself bitterly.

"Who are you and what's with the getup?"I snapped at him.

The man stood back a little, some sort of sick demented joy rolling across his eyes.

I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw this. I can be an idiot sometimes, but even though I could see the skin crinkling in the corner of his eyes, which told me he was smiling, it made me nervous not being able to see the smile that hid behind the mask. He proceeded to laugh a little mockingly. I looked at him like he had just grown another head.

"So it seems I am not a ruler in your world, no matter, I shall introduce myself. My name is The Shredder." he announced with a semi-formal bow as he pointed to himself as he said his name.

Two minutes passed before laughter rippled out of my mouth. _Seriously? He just said that he was The Shredder, ha! Man, I must have woken up in the loony bin for rejected wannabe comic con people or something._ I thought to myself.

The Shredder blinked when I did this, but before I could so much as giggle his fist struck out connecting with my stomach. Air rushed out my lungs, my laughter replaced with me gasping for air.

"Silence!" He roared at me. Grabbing my hair and jerking my head back he leaned into my face to say, "You will respect me young one."

I screamed in pain as I yelled at him. "You're not real." Silence followed this as he looked at me, confusion evident on his face.

"What do you mean?" He asked a second later.

By then I had had enough, so I just bit down on my lips and shook my head refusing to answer his question.

"I had hoped you would more cooperative by now, but it seems that I was wrong. We will question you and if you do not answer, you will suffer the consequences of that refusal in an extremely painful manner." He leaned in towards me until all I could see were his black, soulless eyes. He hissed at me "Where are the turtles?"

Feeling myself spiraling into the void of his eyes I sealed my fate when I said "No."

Chuckling darkly he said "Very well, Hun you may proceed to question her your way."

Out of the corner of my left eye I saw an even taller man step forward step out of the shadows. Long Golden hair pulled into a ponytail rested on his broad like, tan shoulders. His wife beater muscle shirt stretched over his steroid enhanced muscled chest, while black leather pants hugged toned legs, and black beat up steel toe covered boots enclosed his feet. On his left shoulder from his elbow up to his neck a Chinese inspired purple dragon wove in and around huge muscles. Clutched in his right hand was a nasty looking bull whip. I stared in horror at the malicious smile on his clean shaven Caucasian face. Ice winter blue eyes looked down at me as they told me of what was to come next.

I thought to myself that I was going to have nightmares for the rest of my life if this ended up being real and not just a nightmare.

He strutted towards me, the bright light gleaming off of copper zero gauged spikes in each ear, The Shredder having stepped back to observe all of this. As Hun closed in on me I braced myself, and closed my eyes just as I felt the sting of the whip as it cracked at me for the first time.

"Where are the turtles?" The question was repeated again and again.

I felt the whip slice into me every time I refused to answer. I screamed for help inside my head when I felt a warm presence in my mind begin to fade in and out. Clinging to the faint presence I began to wait and hope. For what I didn't know, and it was only much later that I found out, much later.

From there everything became a blur as I lost track of the hours that I had spent get whipped and sometimes kicked or punched. Tears streamed down into the cuts on my face, my left eye throbbed, no doubt I already had a black eye.

Sometimes I would slip into the darkness of my mind only to be brought back with a slap or a flick from the whip. Time passed by in a blaze of fire and agony. It was during a 10 second break when a high pitched blare assaulted my eardrums. Red and yellow lights flashed brightly around me. It felt like a fire drill from school, which had been annoying then and it was annoying now.

I felt people rushing around me, my eyes tightly closed by then. The Shredder and Hun had stood by my sides when an eerie silence filled the room, only to be broken moments later when I heard new voices raised in anger.

I could barely make out what was being said because of the pain, but I did catch snippets of something like "Welcome turtles." and a different voice yelling "You monster!"

When I did regain all of my senses I opened my eyes, and started to wonder when my normal life had turned weird, because there they stood in all their mutant turtle glory.

My eyes grew large at the sight and I thought to myself,_Yep its official, I've gone insane and I'm currently in a psychic ward_.

There was a lot of yelling and shouting as men swarmed around like angry bees. If my eyes were to be believed, what looked like Foot ninja's seemed to be working with gruff looking men who, having the same purple dragon tattoos as my lovely new friend Hun, must be part of the Purple Dragons.

Meanwhile as Tweedledee _Shredder_ and Tweedledum Hun were occupied with the turtles, I took the chance to briefly look at the turtles. They were all well muscled, some more than the others. And true to form, they all wore different colored masks. _Just like on TV_ I thought to myself in disbelief.

One stood in front of the others with his dark cerulean blue mask that framed dark grayish brown eyes, hunter green skin gleamed underneath the artificial light .The other three stood behind Leonardo in a close diamond like position. The one to his left had to be Donatello who wore an Imperial purple mask, his eyes were a dark slate gray, his skin a crisp apple green. To his right Michelangelo wore a dark orange mask that cradled robin's egg blue eyes, his forest green skin gleamed with a thin sheen of beaded sweat. Behind Michelangelo stood the last and the darkest green of all of them. He was a Phthalo green with a dark, rich slash of crimson that framed eyes the color of citrine gems, being a medium dark shade of yellow with a hint of green. Though at the moment they looked like angry cat eyes.

Though now that I had a better look they all looked pretty pissed, for what reason I couldn't say.

Hun turned to me then, before I could finish my inspection and ripped the straps from my wrists, legs and body freeing me so that I slumped a little against the table. Rubbing my raw and bruised wrists The Shredder turned to me.

Laughing loudly he said to the four mutant turtles "There's nothing you can do to stop me now that we have her." He proclaimed smugly as he turned to me and said, "Join me. Join me Diana, and together we will kill the freaks."

I looked between the Shredder and the turtles and looking The Shredder in the eye I said with my head held high, "You're joking right? Unless I'm mistaken you just spent the last several hours having me tortured. Why the hell would I join you to do anything?" I said to him with an incredulous shake of my head. "So even if this isn't a dream, and by some crazy ass reason it's real, I think I'll tell you to just suck it. And by the way the only freak I see around here is you." I spat in disgust "I would _never _follow a monster like you!"

Snarling The Shredder grabbed me, holding me tightly against him as we both faced the turtles, my left wrist clutched firmly in his left hand. "You're just like them , a mistake that must corrected later. Now turtles, I command you to drop your weapons." He ordered.

"No!" I yelled to the turtles, willing them to remain armed.

Grabbing my pinky finger on my left hand The Shredder, with his left hand did something that I, in a sick and disturbed way, always wanted to know what it felt like. By jerking said finger roughly to the side The Shredder managed to crack the delicate little bone in half. Intense burning fire shot through my hand lighting up every nerve in a wave of red tinged agony. An ear piercing scream tumbled from my lips and shattered the stillness of the room, which was funny, because I don't even remember starting to scream.

The sound of cracking bone triggered a few things at once. The turtles flinched in shock, horror and revulsion, the one in orange paled, turning a sick shade of gray-green. Some of the men started laughing at this. My screaming died down to a few whimpers and little sobs of pain.

"Drop your weapons turtles." The Shredder ordered in an all too calm voice again.

The group of turtles, with each passing second became more and more tense. The blue masked one started to lower his weapons to the floor.

"Stop! Don't listen to this asshole!" I shouted at them.

The Shredder not impressed with my heroics took my ring finger and yanked it sharply. A wet pop echoed through the room before I shrieked.

"I will not ask again Leonardo. Put down your weapons!" And to illustrate the seriousness of his command he took my middle finger and twisted it.

For just one moment I blacked out, but in that split second of regaining my senses I felt the sharp edge of a knife hilt pressed into my back. Jolted back to awareness I hesitantly reached behind my back with my right hand. Everyone was so busy with my would be rescuers that no one saw my arm's movement.

"Very well, I'll just have to find some other way to persuade you." The Shredder stated calmly as he pulled out some sort of gun.

_What is with this guy that he is packing so many weapons? _I wondered to myself as The Shredder pointed it at the one wearing the orange mask.

Seeing this small chance I quickly reached into his robes, whipped out the knife, and buried it into his left shoulder.

The Shredder stumbled back, the click and roar of the gun sent everything into a cluster fuck. Thankfully the bullet missed its intended victim.

The Shredder, pushing me away, backhanded me, sending me several feet away from him to sprawl onto the ground. _Note to self his bitch slap is pretty hard_. I thought to myself inwardly.

The clash of steel against steel reverberated around me as the dull thud of wood striking soft flesh thundered all around the room.

Silver light flashed into my eyes signaling the arrival of Leonardo nearby in a heated battle with the old tin man. Feeling eyes on me I looked up _into_ a pair of upside down beautiful blue eyes and a dark orange mask hovering over me.

"Are you okay ?" he whispered to me gently in cool spearmint laced words. He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder causing me to flinch.

His eyes took on a pained look when he saw this, but before he could apologize I beat him to it. "I'm sorry." I managed to choke out as tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.

A strained smile graced his face as he spoke again. "I'm going to pick you up now its' going to be okay ."

I nodded my head in response "Okay." Back home I was known for my loud voice, but my agreement to his actions came out as no more than a soft whisper.

An arm slid under my back, another under my legs, air rushing through my ears as he silently picked me up. Looking into his eyes once more I reached a hand up towards his neck, but stopped halfway as if asking if I could. The response was a sharp nod to which I then proceeded to wrap my arms around his neck. Emboldened by this action I buried my face into his neck,which caused him to stiffen slightly either in shock or confusion at my actions.

"I got her guys let's get the heck out of here!" He shouted over his shoulder. I heard one voice shout, "Go ahead with her Mikey, we'll catch up!" While another shouted "Got your back bro."

"Hold on this might get ugly." Mikey warned.

My arms tightened around his shoulders, my injured hand blazing in pain. I closed my eyes tightly feeling the movement of his body underneath me increase as he ran. Faster and faster we went, followed by angry grunts and yells of pain as his body jerked and shifted to dodge occasional attacks.

It was only when the refreshing ice cold, night air hit my body that I realized I had even done anything life changing. Everything was moving so fast for me that I just zoned out.

A sharp slightly musty odor brought me to my senses. The soft echoing splash of water and complete darkness made me wonder where we were. Harsh breathing in front of me made me cringe into my green hero.

"It's okay it's just my bros." he said to me as I opened my eyes staring at the textured contours of his neck. We continued to walk in silence until finally we stopped. Noises and a soft light shined into the dark, water filled, cement tunnel. He walked a little ways further down the tunnel and I heard a strange 'thud' sound that echoed in the room we had stepped into, a pleasant scent drifted around me, possibly incense, but the actual name of the aroma eluded me.

"I'm going to set you down cause we're safe now." Mikey said, gentleness flowing through each word that the turtle said to me as he gently set me down on a lumpy cushion. He began to pull away which set me into a mini panic attack, causing me to clutch onto his neck more, a slight whimper escaping my lips. He sighed and I felt the couch next to me sag as he sat next to me my face still buried in his neck. "It's okay you're safe now." He said as a hand began to tentatively rub my back trying to soothe and calm me.

Soft taps on a hard floor brought me painfully back to earth as a soft voice spoke.

"My sons, it is good to see you've returned safely."

A different voice, tinged with respect, but laced with a hint of steel responded. "Father we infiltrated The Shredder's lair and found what he was hiding. He was holding this girl captive."

Quietly humming I heard the person approach until a soft, clawed hand touched my shoulder. "Raise your head young one, you are quite safe here with us." Pausing he then added "Trust me." In a reassuring voice.

I slowly lifted my head and turned to face a kind, wise,large grey furred rat. Feeling odd because I have never really considered rats to be kind, I stared deep into two liquid pools of ink colored eyes.

These eyes searched my face for something and I don't know what he was searching for or if he found it, but his eyes finally settled on my cheek which began to throb under his gaze. His other paw reached out to stroke the sore cheek as I winced slightly.

"She got hurt because of us Master." Black eyes darted to blue ones "She was asked to join the foot and she said "no." Even...even when The Shredder broke some of her fingers. And her face is like that because she got slapped for saving me from being shot by The Shredder."

His master drew back, a look of mild surprise etched on his face. Looking behind us he spoke to another turtle. "Leonardo, is what Michelangelo speaks of true?"

"Yes father," Leonardo answered quickly. "But I do not know why she saved Mikey."

Several pairs of eyes landed on me then.

"Yeah, why the hell did you help us?" An angry, suspicious voice asked. Looking down I chewed on my lip in uneasiness "I don't think you guys are monsters." I replied to them softly.

"Look into my eyes child." Their master said to me a moment later. Doing so I saw a slight smile on the old Master's face. "Although I do not know the full reasons as to why you saved my son and denied an invitation from the Shredder. I offer my most sincere gratitude and open our home to you, where you may reside in to heal and recuperate from the horrors you faced."

"But Master Splinter, how can we know we can trust her?" Leonardo inquired uneasily.

"I trust her Leo."Michelangelo's voice interjected.

My eyes snapped to Mikey's, who smiled, the pearly whites of his teeth gleaming in the light, his mask taking on an odd glow

I heard a snort and mocking voice spoke."Of course _you_ would trust her Mike, you always do."

"That is enough Raphael." Master Splinter said sternly to the red banded turtle. The reprimanded turtle glared at me, eyes full of mistrust and the promise of deadly retribution if I dared to hurt his family. Then with a huff of "Whatever." He turned in hostile, pent up rage as he leaped onto an upper ledge walkway. A moment later the sound of a slamming a door echoed through the cavernous room, followed by another more muffled slam of another door.

Wincing, I cringed as the sound seemed to reverberate through my head and body.

"It's okay dudette, he's always cranky after a smack down." Mikey said to me. "Donatello, Master Splinter began. "Please tend to our guest. It seems she is in more pain then she lets on." Patting my head softly their Master continued as Donatello rushed to do his Master's bidding, rushing from the room. "You may call me Master Splinter child. My oldest son here, Leonardo, will make sure you have a place to rest after you are treated. I will be meditating on the events that have occurred recently if anyone wishes to see me." With that the old rat turned and slowly walked away, his walking stick making sharp taps against the stone floor as he disappeared into a different part of their home

Mikey continued to sit to my right, while my turtle doctor, carrying an armload of medical supplies rushed to my left side. I finally let go of Mikey cradling my damaged hand in my lap. Staring down at it I started drifting away from my body a little, my thoughts tumbling around in my head as I contemplated my situation with foggy disbelief.

Here I was sitting on an old lumpy couch surrounded by mutant turtles deep within a funky old sewer in the middle of New York City. I guess only time would tell if this was a hellish nightmare from which I was having a hard time waking; Or if I was trapped within a strange new reality that my mind could not fully even begin to comprehend. I hoped it was the former, but somewhere deep within myself I slightly wished that it was the latter. _Does That make me a __strange __person?_


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the holdup I have had a major case of writers block. So bad that I have been beating my head against a wall just to get this chapter out, so thank you for patiently waiting for this chapter.

A Big thanks to DarkUnderworld my beta reader, you are the wind beneath my writing wings LOL

And to anonymous, baby-kitsune9, BlueRose03, Drusilla52, Moon Angel90, Snow Wolf Alpha, TheCityBurnsTonight thank you so much for liking this story

Please Review oh and join the Darkside cause we have cookies

^_^ Moo sniff cough

Chapter Two

Thousands of emotions swarmed through my mind; my pain riddled body irritating me as I fidgeted with something akin to anxious anticipation laced with fear.

The good turtle doctor-finally fully supplied and gloved up-gently took my left wrist and with a highly intelligent gaze, began to carefully exam my injuries.

He hummed in thought as I raised my head higher to fully look at him. "On a scale of one to ten what would you say your pain is at?" He asked as he turned my wrist side to side.

"Nine." I answered back through clenched teeth, my voice sounding strained.

Gray eyes flicked to mine as he calculated my answer. He nodded his head affirmative, showing that he believed me. Mikey, upon hearing this patted my shoulder in reassurance.

"You have two dislocated fingers and a boxer's fracture on your pinky finger; I'll have to pop your two fingers back into place and tape up the third. Then I'll put a hand brace around your hand to make sure your hand remains stable. I'll give you some local anesthetic now and a low dose of vicodin when we're done."

Hearing all of this from him I grimaced.

"That's not all." Donatello continued apologetically. "Some of your cuts need stitches, and the others need to be cleaned and bandaged."

Another grimace pulled at my pain contorted features. _Today is just not my day._ I thought to myself bitterly.

"Mikey, you can do the bandaging and stitches, while I deal with her hand?" Donatello asked while looking towards me in question. "Is that okay with you?"

Looking into his dark gray eyes, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time; trust. I knew absolutely nothing about him. '_Hell he could be a bad guy too. The 'good cop' to the other guy's 'bad cop'_ I thought darkly to myself. But for some reason, I completely and utterly trusted the creature in front of me.

Replying softly I simply said, "Yes."

Donatello smiled and for a moment it was like the sun breaking free of the clouds pulling an answering smile from me in return. A warm flood of contentment flowed over me and I felt that it was possible that I could come to view this turtle as a friend.

"Great, if you can give me your hand we can get started," he said this with a little more enthusiasm than was appreciated.

When he administered the shot into my hand I cringed with the combination of existing pain and the sharp stab of the needle entering me. Michelangelo, had already begun to clean my other injures, and rub an ointment around the more serious injuries. It must have been a numbing cream of some sort as I didn't feel as a needle and thread slid through my flesh. I watched with a morbid sort of fascination, his movements suddenly stopping for a few moments when I yelped in pain. Donatello had used my momentary distraction to pop my ring finger back into place. Donatello quickly moved onto my middle finger. Each was done so quickly and efficiently that the only thing I could do was gasp at the shooting pain followed by a strange relief when it was over.

"Sorry," Donatello apologized." I wanted it to be as painless as possible." Voice full of sympathy he patted my shoulder with his free hand. I gave him a wan smile in return. Pulling out some tape and some thin pieces of short wood he began to tape all four injured fingers together. "There, all done. Just let me slide this brace on and we'll finish with that nasty looking cut on your upper right arm."

I took a shaky breath."Ok." I said as he finished with the brace and looked towards my arm.

"You know, you're great at this. Hell, even better than most doctors that I know." I told him lightly, but truthfully.

I think he blushed; at least it looked like it because his cheeks turned a darker green. "Thanks, it's no big deal." He said modestly rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

_'It means more than you think'_

Taking out some rubbing alcohol he drenched a cotton ball. "Can you please take that hoodie off so we can get your upper body?" he asked politely.

I noticed both of their faces tighten and for a second Donatello's eyes bled to black, like the starry night sky, while Mikey's turned into dark angry pools of a stormy ocean. But the moment was gone in a flash and I wondered if I had only imagined it.

Carefully he rolled up my beloved, but now ruined shirt. It was covered in blood, sweat, and tears, the fabric torn and shredded from the brutal lash of the whip.

I came back down to earth when I heard a gasp and followed Donatello's gaze down to my tattoo. The design of the tattoo began with a book at the bottom with ivy and music notes flowing out of it transforming into an ace of spade card with a blue eye in the middle. Three roses were placed at the top, one black, one white and the biggest in the center a mixture of both. Fireflies and ladybugs were scattered all around the design finishing it off. I sighed in relief when I saw that it hadn't been damaged. I looked over at two shocked faces. "WHEW, that's a relief." I said. "That bastard didn't get my tat."

Mikey was the first to recover and smiled widely. "Whoa that's so cool. Hey did it hurt?" he asked.

Grinning I replied, "Yes and no. It was annoying at times and some parts were pretty painful, but it was worth it." I shrugged nonchalantly when I said this as if it wasn't a big deal.

Donatello shook himself once before looking at me incredulously. "What made you even consider getting one?"he asked.

"Well," I began thoughtfully. I've always wanted one for as long as I can remember, and seeing my mom, dad, and my brothers get them made me want to get one even more. I finally got one when I got a job when I turned 19."

"Does it mean anything?" Mikey asked with curiosity.

I looked at him. "Yea, it's supposed to represent the things I've overcome. Kind of like a memory. It's hard to explain." I finished quickly at their curious gazes. _'They would never believe me if I told them the truth. They would hate me._ _If I were to tell them about my past_. I thought bitterly. _They might even...even start to hate humanity and I didn't want that to happen. _So I left my explanation at that.

"Oh. Okay," Mikey said a sliver of concern laced with misgiving entering his voice.

It tore at me when I heard this. _'Nothing can be done about it. _I thought darkly to myself.

And so for the next ten mind numbingly uncomfortable minutes there was nothing but silence. This was finally broken when Donatello said "Done." And when Leonardo appeared with a blanket and pillow in his hands.

Looking down at myself I snickered inwardly at the sight of all the bandages. '_I look like a mummy.' _I thought to myself wryly.

"Here's an icepack for your cheek, it's pretty badly swollen." Donatello said as he offered up the blue gel pack.

"Thanks," I said with a slight grin. Putting it on my cheek I winced once before placing it fully against my cheek. I sighed in relief and closed my eyes as I felt the chill numb my sore left cheek.

My eyes snapped back open when I felt something burning through me. My eyes met gray-brown eyes looking directly into mine. Leonardo's eyes burned with knowledge and experience that I could not even began to fathom. Bravely I kept eye contact with him the drugs flowing softly through my pain ridden body.

Wordlessly he held out the blanket and the pillow to me with his never breaking eye contact.

Smiling again but sheepishly this time I took them with a soft "Thank you." to him. No response, nothing but those truth seeking eyes.

"For tonight you'll have to sleep on the couch until we can get the spare bedroom cleaned up." Donatello said with a sympathetic look at me, causing my to break eye contact with my silent host.

"It's okay; I've slept in worse places." _Like the floor, with only a thin layer of carpet over cold, hard cement. _I thought to myself.

"Well, we'll leave you to sleep. The meds should kick in soon so it'll be easier to get some rest tonight." Donatello said while packing up his emergency medical kit.

"Thanks again and sorry…sorry for being a bother." I stammered, looking to the side and nervously nibbling at my bottom lip, not able to meet their eyes that I knew would be full of judgment.

"Hey now, it's not your fault." Donatello said gently. "Don't ever say it is. The Shredder will stop at nothing to kill us, no matter who else pays the price for his sick and twisted plans." Donatello said this with determination etched into his features.

"Yeah, that Dude has a few loose screws rattling around in that tin head of his." Mikey said with a snicker.

Smiling lightly I nodded. Something was wrong with the Shredder, but there had to be a reason that I was here. I just didn't know what that reason was.

A voice jolted me out of this internal line of thought. "Tomorrow morning we will discuss what happened today." Looking at Leonardo I cringed inwardly at the stern expression on his face. "And we will hear the answers to our questions." Then with a turn on his heel that was both graceful and aggressive, he strode into another part of their home that was cloaked in darkness.

This display left my nerves slightly more frazzled then before, but a hand on my shoulder made me turn to a comforting grin.

"It'll be okay. Mikey said still grinning. "Get some sleep; things will be better in the morning." Mikey said with so much optimum, that I think he's starting to rub off of me, because all I could was smile in return.

Shifting around I felt my cell phone and mp3. Gasping I quickly dug in my pockets and pulled them out. Looking down I knew what I had to do so I held them out to Donatello, who looked shocked. "Here. It's my cell and mp3."

Looking puzzled he took them. "Um... thanks, but why are you giving these to me?"

Yawning I told him "I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm worried though cause I had my wallet and work stuff in my backpack, but when I woke up there I didn't have it."

Donatello had a look on his face like he was thinking but also worried at the same time. "What's the last thing you remember?" he questioned.

"I was walking towards my door in my home when I tripped on something. I started falling, but I didn't hit the floor, instead I kept falling and then I saw a bright light and then I blacked out." I told him as I tried to remember more clearly what had happened.

Donatello looked alarmed. "Before we infiltrated that warehouse you were being held in, my computers picked up a strange energy signature right were you were found. I was unable to discover anything about it because it only lasted for approximately five minutes before it disappeared. But I may be able to take some scans of both you and the area, which may still have some residual energy particles."

I blinked at him in shock, hoping flaring within me. "Then we can find out what's going on and why the Shredder had me?" I asked this with a hopeful grin. _Maybe then I can find out what the hell is going on._

"Yes, but until then you should get some rest. It's almost 2:30 AM." Donatello told her seriously.

Smiling I placed the pillow on the couch and unfolded the blanket. Michelangelo got up from besides me to let me lie down. Slowly laying my aching body down, I sighed when I was fully stretched out with the blanket covering me. All lights suddenly shut off except for a light coming from a computer off to my right.

"Hey, Donatello, can I ask a weird question?" I asked into the darkness. The forms of both Michelangelo and Donatello barely visible.

"Sure, but you can call me Don or Donny if you'd like." His ghostly voice answered.

The shape next to him moved slightly. "And just call me Mikey." Michelangelo's voice drifted over me.

I nodded into the darkness, unsure if they could even see this movement. "Before I fall asleep on you guys, can you tell me the date?"

"Uh, it's the twenty-fourth of September. Why?" Mikey asked in confusion.

"No reason." I answered quickly. "What year is it again; I think the medicine is getting to me." I laughed nervously, even though I was frightened by what the answer could be.

"Man, Donny what in the world did you give her? She's getting loopy." Mikey started laughing softly.

"Just some Vicodin and it was a low dose." Donatello said to his brother before answering her question. "It's 1992, what year did you think it was?" Don asked curiously.

"Ninety one, is that silly or what?" I said giggling, but inside I was a complete wreck. The year was supposed to be 2017. This confirmed the worst of my fears. the realization that this was real and there was no going back hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks.

"Yeah, I get that way sometimes, so no worries. We'll see you when you wake up." Mikey's voice was getting distant and so was Don's as they talked to one another softly.

I thought I knew exactly where my life was headed. I was going to be something my small family could be proud of. But then this happened and it was a curve ball I couldn't quite figure out.

_Who was I? What was I going to say to them tomorrow?_ Eventually they would find out that I was not from here. Then everything would crumble beneath me until there was nothing left but the fall.

It was not until I felt a warm dampness on my cheeks that I realized that I had started to cry. I was shaking and once I realized I had started to cry, the tears wouldn't stop.

Darkness crept into my vision as I sobbed quietly to myself. It wasn't until unconsciousness threatened to drag me down that I saw someone leaning over me. A red mask was all that I saw before I fell into a dream; a dream that was of a never ending nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello Again and thank you for reading my story. I would like to thank my Readers, Reviewers, Followers and Favorites **samsyrra**, T**heCityBurnsTonight**, **Snow Wolf Alpha**, **NarutoSasukeHighigo**, **Moon Angel90**, **Lithim Nichole Albrecht**, **K-e-Yx**, **Drusilla52**, **BlueRose03**, **Bellarella**, **Psycho Babble**, **Skirret**, **Summer903**, **TheCityBurnsTonight**, **Vodka Citron**, **baby-kitsune9**. You all ROCK Thank you so much for making me feel on top of the world :D

And a special Thank you to my Beta the lovely **DarkUnderworld** you are a muse in disguise and I would have never even made it this far if it weren't for you. To **Sauren's Sister** for being so kind and motivating me to write more with a sweet check in. You really made it worth the struggle to get this chapter out.

P.s Reviews are welcome of any kind

**Chapter Three**

Sometimes when no one is looking, I like to pretend that the darkness is my friend; like a security blanket protecting me from the menacing terrors of the world. I would wrap the darkness around me like the comforting hugs my mom used to give to me when I was young. I would be safe and warm inside its dark, shadow constructed arms.

But right now, my friend was my enemy, and the monster that was now my reality was gaining speed ready to pounce and drag me mercilessly to my knees. Its apathetic gaze seemed to devour me from within. Reality leapt, slamming into me as I hit the ground of the world that existed solely in my mind.

For a moment I lay unmoving, the walls around me an unforgiving, blinding white that seemed to dwarf me on so many levels. I would have continued to lay there contemplating my situation, but to my irritated consternation, a rotting wooden door appeared in the far distance. To my hazy mind it sounded like it was calling to me; coercing me to open it. And even though I heard my tiny pathetic excuse of a voice of Reason warned me to not do it. I choose to ignore it, standing up and stumbling to the door.

_'Danger__,__ danger you stupid dipshit__,__'_ the voice in my head warned as I reached for the scratched up copper door knob.

_'There's nothing there we have to see__. All __you have to do is turn around and then we can wake up__,' _she continued to plead with me as I turned the knob slowly, to my Reason's great horror.

_'Please__, just this once, please listen to me!' she begged. _Ignoring the voice, I pushed forward none the less.

Opening the creaky door I heard her retreat with a cry of panic and a parting warning that left me shaking in trepidation. _'I warned you__.__ I just hope you can face the truth of this decision__.__' _

Walking into the pitch black, my senses were assaulted by the smell of rotten sewage, and the fast flowing sound of water coming from a distance. Taking another tentative step I slid into ankle deep water that glowed an ominous blue color. Gone was the white room and blinding light, of the previous room. I guessed that I was currently walking a sewer of some sort. Voices coming from the water caught my attention and intrigued me.

"When did you last hear from her?" a male voice asked.

"Two days ago, and we were going to meet up right after she got off work to get ready to go to dinner that night. We were going to eat out at a restaurant. Please find her, Officer, she's a good person, she would never just run away," A female pled, her voice sounding familiar and very much like my friend Nicole.

"Rest assured, Ma'am. We are doing all we can to find the missing person," The officer said soothingly.

A face floated to the surface of the blue, glowing liquid, becoming clearer, more distinct and familiar. I recognized my friend Nicole, whose worried voice I had heard earlier. I stared into her eyes and saw that agonized tears were streaming down her face.

"Where are you Diana?" She asked with fearful worry.

Her words struck a chord through me that vibrated, becoming louder, more clear and almost painful in it's intensity.

_Where was I?_ I wondered to myself. Looking down at my friend I yelled out to her, hoping that maybe she could hear me."Here! I'm here, Nicole! Can you hear me?!" I screamed at her but to no avail. She didn't give any sign that she could hear or even see me.

Waves seemed to have formed from out of nowhere, and to my fearful dismay I noticed that the blue liquid had risen up to my hips. Nicole's image rippled vanished as the water seemed to come alive, like an angry sea with huge rolling, undulating waves crashing into me and stealing my breath away with each and every blow.

Fading away I tried to call out again to my dear friend, screaming with all of my might to get her attention.

"Nicole! Come back, I need you. Please, save me!" I begged as her face morphed into someone's visage that glinted with menacing silver. Dark, soulless, brown-nearly black- eyes burrowed into my own, and I flinched in terror.

A tendril of water rose up, shaping itself into a giant hand that wrapped around the entirety of my body, holding and trapping me. The grip was slowly constricting itself, crushing me and leaving me gasping, struggling to gain even a small desperate breath of life sustaining air. The Shredder's massive face and body rose from the depths of the twisting, rolling sea, his giant fist crushing the life out of me. His booming laughter sent shivers down my spine and piercing arrows directly through my heart.

"You are mine," he said boasted cruelly,"to to use at will." He pulled me up and closer to his face to peer into his malevolent onyx eyes. "To deal with as I see fit." Another squeeze to my body sent a wave of agony spiking through me as his eyes lit with carnal desire, his voice suggestive and filled with lust.

Hot breath hit my face crawling across my skin as he laughed cruelly before whispering tauntingly. "You will be my weapon, Diana and you will never escape, or be free of me; ever."

Words continued to pour from the Shredder's mouth that I was unable to hear as the blood rushed through my ears, heart slamming against my chest in panic. What I did hear didn't make any sense to me, like a several languages running together in a swirling intonation.

"The sleeper awakes,"

_Um, what's with the Dune rip-off_? I wondered as the vision of the Shredder began to fade, becoming less real.

"Awaken dreamer,"

_'__I told you this would hurt'. _My voice of Reason was back and nagging at me again.

"Wake up."

_'Why don't you ever listen to me_? She complained._'__Why can't you do as your told__?__!__'_

"Wake up! Your safe, just wake up!"

_"You'll never be safe__;__ never__,__ never__,__ never!'_

"Wake up! Someone get in here and help me!"

_'Never, never__,__ never__,__ never!' _

I screamed as all of the voices including my own echoed around in my head. _Someone__ please help! Please help me! _I screamed in my head as thenever's and ever's seemed to tear my mind apart as my body thrashed violently.

Like an act of mercy my eyes suddenly flew open in the waking world and I was confronted by Michelangelo staring right into my eyes, his expression panicked, voice worried and desperate. I clenched my teeth in pain as my hand throbbed painfully, but it was nothing compared to how it had been before. The brace that Donny had placed on it had obviously helped keep my hand still during my nightmare.

I quickly sat up, my breathing heavy as I stared at my good hand balled tightly into the blanket I clutched to my chest. I jumped in fear as someone placed a gentle hand upon my shoulder a small whimper of distress slipping from between my lips. A hand began to soothingly rub small circles of comfort across my back, making the tense muscles there sag in relief and relaxation. I saw Donny run in a moment later, a med kit in hand.

"What happened?!" he asked anxiety lacing each word.

"I don't know. She started breathing funny then she was suddenly gasping for air and thrashing around. Then she started to scream for help." Mikey explained in a rush of words that tripped and fell over each other in his haste to get them out.

Kneeling down in front of me Donny took out a stethoscope and started to take my vitals. "Sounds like a pretty bad dream." he probed gently. "Do you want to talk about it."

I took a deep breath and felt myself calm enough to softly answer Donny's question as I shifted nervously. "It was a nightmare about my friend who was looking for me and then... I called to her and she couldn't hear me." I tried to keep the distress from my voice as I shakily related part of my dream to them. However, I didn't feel comfortable sharing the part about the Shredder and his hateful words and promises. That seemed too...personal for some reason. But she couldn't dispel her fear of the Shredder finding her. "The Shredder's going to find me." she whispered miserably, a single tear running down my cheek, which I hastily and angrily wiped away. The last thing I wanted was to break down crying, because then I would feel ridiculous.

"Hey, everything's going to be okay. He won't find you, cause we're going to protect you." Mikey said comfortingly his hand giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Smiling I asked, "Even if you don't know who I am?" I asked, twisting around to look at him waiting for his reply

"We help whoever is in danger, even the people we don't know." He paused for a moment. "But it would be nice to know what to call you instead of 'hey you'," Donny said with a slightly lopsided smile on his face as he began putting away his medical supplies.

Holding out my uninjured hand to him first, I smiled kindly. "Sorry about that, names Diana Katherine Chavez."

Cautiously he stuck out his hand to which I grabbed and firmly shook. Eyes widened in surprise when I did this. _Shocking to have a stranger respect you, _I thought to myself.

"But you can call me Didi if you want," I concluded before I let go of his hand.

Looking closer at his appendage brought to light the fact that he had five fingers instead of three. I hummed thoughtfully to myself. _Looks like they got that wrong in the movies and comics, _I thought to myself, which brought to mind another interesting point and I wondered, J_ust what else did they get wrong?_

I then proceeded to shake Mikey's hand again smiling nicely before letting go.

"Cool." Mikey smiled a wide toothed grin. "Well you know us, then there's Leonardo or Leo when he lets you call him that, he's our oldest brother. And Raphael or Raph is the second oldest next to Donny, then me; the awesome and cool one." Mikey leaned back on the couch trying to strike a pose while next to me Don was rolling his eyes and sighing in exasperation.

"Yeah, but you forgot your most important trait, Mikey," Donny said with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

"What's that, Don?" Mikey looked confused when he asked this.

Standing up, bag in hand he answered,"Your sparkling personality of course," he replied, with a teasing grin.

"Ye..." he paused for a second, head tilted, eyebrows scrunched up in thought. A light bulb must have gone off in his head because his confusion turned to mock outrage. "Hey, what's )that supposed to mean!?"

"Nothing, Mikey, nothing at all." Donny was laughing at this point with me snickering in the background.

"Humph whatever, Donny." Crossing his arms he preceded to pout until my stomach decided to growl really loudly leaving me looking embarrassed and them laughing at me.

"Sounds like someone is hungry. Which makes sense since you've been asleep for 14 hours. Why don't we get some food into you, then I can give you some meds for the pain." Donny proposed still chuckling.

Standing Mikey held out his hand, which I gladly took. He easily pulled up unto my feet in one quick motion. "We can eat while we're waiting for some friends to come by. One of them, April, is bringing some clothes and stuff you might need. So follow me, I'm probably the only one here who can cook great food anyway. Even with my sparkling personality." He grinned at Donny who stuck his tongue at him slightly.

Smiling, _I could get used to this, _I thought to myself aswe all headed to the kitchen area. Their lair was nice. As I walked from the living room I noticed it seemed to be a melding of all of the Tmnt shows or movies I'd seen. The lower floor seemed to come from the 2003 version of the cartoon, with the weird elevator to what I would guess to be the garage that held their turtle themed vehicles. Their bedrooms seemed to be located on the upper floor like in the CGI movie. The lair had a certain feel to it that left me nostalgic for the live action movies. Oddly enough both the 2003 and the 1980s cartoon theme song were going through my head at that particular moment, leaving me missing my little brother Andrew. _He would have loved this to meet his heroes, _I thought to myself wistfully.

Arriving in said kitchen I noticed it had an 'L' shaped layout to it. Table and chairs in the middle with cabinets, counters, two pantry's along with the fridge, stove and sink sitting against the wall. The color scheme was odd to say the least. All of the wood and counter tops were different colors. Some were black/white and others were brown/white. They had a dingy, old, and worn look to them. The stove looked old and was gas powered. Two mismatched counter tops over the fridge looked newish, and had only a few small dents. _Looks like someone's been punching it__, I though in surprise__. _The sink looked like a normal two tub sink to me, but had an old fashioned spigot rather than a more modern two tap faucet.

Mikey decided to pull out one of the several old oak chairs for me to sit down on in front of the matching table. It too had a worn look to it, and had obviously been well used. I reached out and traced a few deep, thick gouges that I suspiciously believed to have been

made by the sharpened tip of a sai. Sitting down on the proffered chair I watched as Mikey started getting things out from the fridge.

"Would you like some eggs, and if yes, how do you like your eggs?" he asked with two of them in his hand.

"Yes, and um... would over easy be too much to ask for?" I shyly asked.

"Heck no! I know for a fact that I make a mean over easy egg." Bright teeth flashed at me when he said this. "I'm feeling like some pancakes would go great with this. What do you think?

"I think that would be great." More smiles at him for the consideration. I felt really happy, even with the bad wake-up call this morning.

So for several minutes me and Mikey talked back and forth between each other and I ended up finding out that his favorite color _was_ orange.

"Cause it's the color of awesome, and my mask. Don't you think it goes great with my eyes?" He batted his eyes at me, which left us both breathless with laughter.

"Mine is red and green." I offered up after we had both calmed down.

Looking at me he lifted a eye ridge. "Really? Now that's interesting," he murmured thoughtfully.

Mikey told me that he loves comics and video games. Mostly Dc and Marvel for the comics, while he liked horror and RPG's for video games.

"I love kicking someone's butt at Call of Duty, it's the highlight of my day."

I piqued his interest when I told him I liked video games and comic books too. Though I was more into the classic Nintendo games and that I wasn't into comic books quite as avidly as he was, but that I did read them every now and then.

"I like a lot of games from the super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger are my favorites. And as for comics, I'll pick up an issue of x-men or a manga. I really like Fruits Basket.

He let out an exaggerated gasp. Flipping a pancake he grinned. "I think your my new best friend now. Just wait 'till after breakfast, we can play a bunch of games and I'll show you some of my comics.." I smiled as he continued to chat enthusiastically.

When he had finished making breakfast, Mikey set three plates down on the table for us, plus silverware and napkins. Donny came in heading straight for the coffee. After pouring himself a cup, he rummaged through a cupboard and pulled out a glass, filling it with water and walking over to me where he set it down on the table in front of me.

"Here, it's for your medicine," he said while he set two pills down beside the glass of water.

"Thanks," I said gratefully. I took the pills, quickly swallowing them down with a chase of water.

"How is your pain by the way." he asked as we tucked into the feast.

"It's around a seven," I said wincing when I set my hand down on the table.

"That's great. Its' gone down some then," Donny said with a smile.

"It could be worse if it weren't for you guys, so again thank you for rescuing me."

"You're welcome it was no problem," he said as his cheeks darkened slightly with either embarrassment or pleasure, possibly both..

For several minutes we ate in a peaceful silence. It was when I was almost finished with my food that I heard a door slam open and close, followed by a small thump in the living room. Then I saw a red mask emerge out of the darkness followed by the face of Raphael who looked tense and slightly pissed off. He ended up walking heavily into the kitchen got a bowl out along with a box of cereal. While he was fixing himself breakfast I felt the tension in the room skyrocket to the point where you could cut it with a knife...a really dull one.

I felt worry start to stir in the back of my mind; anxiety stealing my breath and placing a lump of lead in my stomach. My injured hand throbbed painfully from pressing it down onto the table. When Raphael did sit down across from me I shifted back slightly, as if his overwhelmingly hostile presence pushed me away. I quickly lowered my eyes to the table to avoid eye contact for fear of antagonizing him.

"Well good morning there sleepy head. Did you get enough beauty sleep?" Mikey asked in a teasing voice.

This earned Mikey a slight growl and a heated glare that should have caused Michelangelo to spontaneously combust. I know I felt the heat of the glare when Raphael directed it at me for a split second. All of the shared good humor and companionship that had filled me this morning evaporated, and I was left the outsider again, which left me feeling even more isolated than before.

It was not even five minutes later when Leonardo came in with Master Splinter limping slightly as he followed Leonardo into the kitchen. Master Splinter was happily humming to himself as he sat down in an empty chair, while Leonardo walked purposefully towards a kettle that had been placed on the stove by Michelangelo. It had just started to whistle as Leonardo approached. Quickly and efficiently tea was made and poured into two cups. The tea along with two full plates of food were skillfully balanced along with the two cups of tea, and brought over to the table.

"Good morning, my sons," Master Splinter said with a smile as he took a tentative sip of his tea.

Four replies of 'good morning, Sensei' were given though Raphael's sounded more like a growl.

Turning to me Master Splinter proceeded to nod his head. "And good morning young lady."

Feeling flustered I stammered out, "good morning...Master Splinter, Sir."

Mikey, being ever so kind, spoke after my uneasy reply. "Her name's Diana, Master. Diana Katherine Chavez."

I smiled shyly at Michelangelo in gratitude until a low, rough voice made me flinch, and shrink back in my seat.

"Why can't she say her name herself? Are we too freaky for her to talk to?" snarled Raphael as he narrowed his eyes at me and Mikey. This made Mikey frown and look back at his brother in exasperation.

"Be calm, my son. Miss. Chavez is not appalled by our appearances, you may ask her yourself. In this case she is merely shy," Master Splinter said with a kind glance thrown my way.

"I would like to know why that is." Leonardo interjected softly, his eyes sharp and focused upon me. "Why aren't you scared of us, and why did you save Mikey? You don't even know us."

All eyes turned on me and I felt a fission of nervous fear prickle against my skin as my mind spun furiously trying to figure out how she was supposed to actually _answer _the question, when her reply of '_because you are comic book characters, oh, and I'm not from here,_' sounded ludicrous even to her. Though the fact that four pairs of eyes set within terrapin faces, along with one set staring out at her from a rodent's visage made her answer seem not as ludicrous as it should.

"Well, aren't you going to answer us?" Raphael asked with a sneer in his voice, face set into angry and suspicious lines..

"Well you see...I kinda do know you," I answered nervously.

Instantly I knew that my answer had been the wrong one; even though it had been truthful. Raphael reacted with instant rage. He leapt across the table, flatware, food and glass smashed to the ground as he grabbed me by my bad arm, hauling me up from my seat. I stared into furious liquid gold eyes.

Mikey quickly stood, his seat flying back and crashing to the floor as I let out a cry of pain as Raphael's grip tightened on my arm, until a solid band of iron rather than flesh encased it.

Michelangelo grabbed at Raphael's shoulder squeezing it tightly, trying to get his brother to release his grip on me."Raph, stop it! You're hurting her!" he pleaded, while pulling back on Raphael's shoulder."

"I don't give a damn if I am! She needs to tell us who the hell she is working for!" he yelled at him back while gradually squeezing my arm harder. I whimpered as pain lashed through my arm, warm blood from torn stitches starting to trickle down my arm.

"The only ones who know about us, are our enemies, Mikey." Leonardo said softly as he slowly stood, eyes darting back and forth between Raphael and myself. He looked like he wanted to intervene, but knew that if I was an enemy wanting to harm his family, he would show me no mercy.

Gritting my teeth against the pain I tried to snarl, shout or yell at Raphael. I wanted to be strong and unafraid, but the truth was, I was very afraid, and I couldn't gather that much strength. So when I answered, it was with a voice that wavered, a single tear rolling down my cheek. "I don't 'work for anyone." My voice broke and I hated myself for it. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly together so I wouldn't have to look into Raphael's hate filled, accusatory golden eyes. "I don't work for anyone," I reaffirmed, opening my eyes and gathering enough courage to stare Raphael down. "Because up until you found me, I didn't even exist in this world.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he roared, his face a hair's breadth from mine, his breath hot against my cheek.

"Where I'm from, you're just comic book characters!" I managed to put some power into my voice, and this gave me the strength to sneer at him."All of you are no more real than...than Link from the Legend of Zelda game."

"Stop lying and talking crazy! Tell us the truth!" Raphael shook me and I slammed my boot down on his bare foot; hard.

Raphael let go of my arm as he let out a yelp of pain.

I backed away two steps before continuing, my voice stronger, more sure of itself, and containing just a hint of a challenge. "I know you because I've seen the comics, the movies the cartoons and the merchandise. On my world you are imaginary characters created by...by, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as a...a parody that turned into something...amazing!" I advanced a step towards Raphael, my confidence growing. "I know about everything; your fights with the Shredder, the Foot, Hun and the Purple Dragons, Baxter Stockman, Bishop, the Triceratrons, and your friends, April and Casey, proffessor hineycut and Usagi the samurai rabbit. And depending on which version you go by there are also Bebop and Rocksteady who were the Shredder's minions, and in another version they have Dogpound and Zever...I think that's his name. Mikey calls him fish face, because he's a giant mutant fish. Oh and Karai, can't forget about her-" I abruptly shut my mouth because I had begun to ramble. I was also being stared at with opened mouthed shock, which made me feel uncomfortable.

I swallowed nervously and clutched my throbbing arm to my chest.

"She coulda found that out anywhere-" Raphael began as Michelangelo punched him hard in the arm. Raphael glared at his baby brother and grunted angrily.

"Shut it, Raph." Michelangelo walked over to me and placed a gentle arm across my shoulders.

Raphael advanced an angry step towards me, but Leonardo stood in front of him, blocking his way. "I think we should maybe listen to what she has to say."

Leonardo looked for confirmation from their father, who gave a slight nod of agreement.

"Miss. Chavez, perhaps you would be more comfortable in the living room," Master Splinter motioned with his hand. "Raphael, we will see you _after_ you clean up the kitchen." Master Splinter stood and slowly made his way to the living room. "And I expect a fresh cup of tea," he threw over his shoulder as he exited the kitchen.

Michelangelo chuckled as Raphael crossed his arms over his chest, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a silent snarl.

Michelangelo's grin grew broader as he ushered me from the room, turning excited blue eyes towards me. "Am I really a comic book hero?" he asked in breathlessly.

I nodded my head, giving him a lopsided grin. "You're even an action figure."

Michelangelo stopped his eyes going wide with awe before shinning with excitement. "That is so AWESOME!" he shouted.

Questions tumbled from his mouth as he began to ask me so many questions, I became dizzy and overwhelmed.

Donatello gently pushed Michelangelo off of me, explaining that he wanted to have a look at my arm, and re-stitch the lacerations that had broken open.

They seated me back on the couch and I closed my eyes for a moment, knowing that I had a lot of explaining to do.

**Please review or leave a small comment about what you think so far it would be a big help for my inspiration.**


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